If QPR are to continue their winning run at Millwall on Saturday, it'll be their first away win against this opponent since Roy Wegerle and Simon Barker scored at The Old Den back in 1990.

Recent Meetings

Millwall 0 QPR 0, Wednesday April 10, 2019, Championship

Better finishing by Matt Smith with his head before half time, and Bright Osayi-Samuel when sent screaming through on goal after it, could have seen QPR claim a first win away to Millwall since 1990 when these sides met at The Den in April. That said, Rangers, under the caretaker stewardship of John Eustace, were just glad to arrest the slide after a 4-0 weekend humping at Norwich. They showed better spirit here, led by the recalled Toni Leistner and Josh Scowen, and eased what relegation fears remained by posting another point.

QPR won comfortably 2-0 when these sides met at Loftus Road in September in what has turned out to be one of the high points of the season at Rangers. The R’s had already gone close with a Nahki Wells free kick and Jordan Cousins one on one chance from a tight angle when they took the lead as Mass Luongo flicked home from a clever corner routine. Ebere Eze got his inevitable goal against the club that released him as a teenager moments later, turning in from close range off a Jake Bidwell assist. Rangers were lucky to survive one off the bar from Cooper at the start of the second half but could have scored a third on multiple occasions during prolonged second half pressure, with a late Massimo Luongo one on one chance with Amos particularly gilt edged.

QPR turned in one of their worst performances 2017/18 in the New Year game at The Den. Only a string of typically brilliant saves by Alex Smithies had kept the Lions at bay until Jed Wallace cut the keeper out of the game with a deep cross and Steve Morison bundled in his first goal of the season in his 25th appearance from close range. Rangers went long and narrow for the final half an hour in search of an equaliser which against Millwall was nearly as stupid as the arrangements for QPR fans after the match which saw many of us still within 500 feet of the ground at approaching 23.00. Manager Ian Holloway spent the night goading and winding up the home fans, who loathe him for his part in their previous relegation, behaviour and performance that went a long way towards costing him his job at the end of the season.

A harsh red card for Millwall forward Lee Gregory just before half time swung the first meeting last season back in QPR’s favour after a strong start from Neil Harris’ men. The Lions had already taken a spectacular lead through McLaughlin after six minutes and physically dominated Rangers from the off – Steve Morison almost lobbed in an outlandish second from long range. When Jed Wallace made it 2-0 from an acute angle at the start of the second half the game looked to be up but Rangers laid siege to the Millwall goal thereafter and in the end Massimo Luongo and Matt Smith forced two of the thirty shots the R’s had across the 90 minutes into the net for a draw.

QPR’s long, slow, uninspiring grind through the second half of the 2013/14 season continued with a 1-1 draw at home to relegation-haunted Millwall when these sides last met at Loftus Road. Assured of a play-off spot but too far away to threaten the automatic promotion places, Rangers plodded through the latter months of the campaign before somehow winning the play-off final at Wembley in the last minute with ten men. One of many instantly forgettable encounters in that period saw Charlie Austin give QPR a lead from the penalty spot 14 minutes from time only for Joey Barton to bottle out of a tackle and Rob Green to make an absolute mess of a spooned shott from Scott Malone for an injury-time equaliser.

QPR were also caught cold by a stoppage time equaliser from Jermaine Easter when these sides met at The Den earlier that season. Rangers, unbeaten at the top of the league at this stage, looked to be on course for a comfortable win against their lowly hosts when the excellent Niko Kranjcar fired in an unstoppable first goal from long range and hit the bar with another effort from even further out. But Richard Dunne’s complacency in possession allowed Charlie McDonald in for the first equaliser and although Charlie Austin subsequently restored the visitors’ advantage they were undone with almost the last kick of the game after Millwall took a quick throw in with the R’s distracted by an incident on the touchline where manager Harry Redknapp had been hit in the face with the football.

QPR didn’t lose often in the Championship in 2010/11 – just five times in fact on their way to winning the league – but they didn’t beat lowly Millwall, or score a goal in fact, in either meeting that season. The midweek trip to The Den in March came at a niggly time for Rangers. The full extent of the charges relating to the Ale Faurlin transfer were starting to become apparent and a 4-1 defeat at eventually relegated Scunthorpe was just around the corner. Millwall, in front of a typically boisterous home crowd, gave Neil Warnock’s team a good going over with future Loftus Road loan darling Andros Townsend impressing down the wing and striker Steve Morison giving former Millwall man Danny Shittu a torrid time. In the end the only surprise was it took the home side an hour to score – Morison outpacing and outmuscling Shittu (not seen often) before lashing home. When Shittu then chopped the striker down in the box a penalty was awarded, converted by Liam Trotter, and a red card issued which effectively killed the game as a contest. Rangers won the league anyway.

Tensions were running high at Loftus Road for the first meeting between the sides that season. Amid violent disturbances on South Africa Road and Shepherd’s Bush Green, unbeaten QPR put their league leadership on the line against Kenny Jackett’s Millwall side. Ultimately the match was a damp squib, with few chances for either side, but given what went on around it that was probably for the best.

Connections

Danny Shittu >>> QPR 2011-2012, 2001-2006 >>> Charlton 1999-2002

Lagos-born Danny Shittu kick-started his own professional football career by constantly writing to managers, coaches and scouts, badgering teams across the South East of England for a trial. Norwich had a look at him but it was Charlton who offered him pro terms. Shittu has rarely had a good word to say about the long-serving and well-regarded Addicks boss of the time Alan Curbishley however, saying he rarely spoke to the younger players at the club.

During 2000/01 Charlton loaned Shittu first to Blackpool, then the following season to Ian Holloway’s Queens Park Rangers side in League One. Rangers were in administration, but putting a decent side together under Holloway’s supervision. Shittu was signed right on the deadline for a Tuesday night league game at Peterborough where he started at centre half, not knowing half of his team mates, and was sent off for two clumsy tackles in a 4-1 defeat.

An inauspicious start then, but Shittu’s enormous frame, deceptive pace and physical approach to marking opposition strikers quickly made him a fans’ favourite at Loftus Road. He was also a very lucrative first goalscorer bet – always listed at 33/1 and a prodigious threat when going up for attacking corners. He opened his QPR account with a typical header from one such set piece in a 3-2 win at Chesterfield.

Despite the administrators overseeing things at Loftus Road, Rangers were able to buy Shittu for £250,000 from Charlton thanks to generous funding from the Winton family – who also financed the acquisitions of DouDou and Marc Bircham around this time. The moves provoked anger among rivals clubs, with Brentford chairman Ron Noades – who’d made a cash offer for Shittu himself – a particularly outspoken critic. Clubs in administration have been placed under transfer embargoes by the league ever since.

But Shittu was signed and sealed at Loftus Road and formed a formidable centre half partnership with Clarke Carlisle in the third tier. He became a cult hero, and although his ruptured knee ligaments in a match at Bournemouth midway through the 2003/04 season threatened to derail QPR’s promotion push, the fact that he played on for 70 minutes of that match with a knee injury that reduces most players to a crumpled, screaming heap on the floor only added to his attraction. Surgeons grafted part of his hamstring into his knee to repair the damage – Holloway remarked that this was no problem as Shittu had more hamstring than the rest of the team put together – and by the time he returned to action the R’s were a division higher.

Shittu continued to impress in the new division. A whole new league of strikers, not used to his unconventional shape, underestimated him to their pain and suffering – Cardiff’s Alan Lee made the mistake of elbowing Shittu in his gentleman’s area as he climbed for a header and after 30 seconds on the floor to gather his breath Shittu left the field, pointing at his assailant, and shouting that he was coming back for him. The following hour was as brutal as you’ll ever see within the rules of the game and Lee was removed with 25 minutes still to play for his own safety.

As Rangers struggled for cash with Gary Waddock in charge and Gianni Paladini as chairman, Shittu was sold to Watford for £1.6m in August 2006. Aidy Boothroyd’s Hornets had just been promoted to the top flight but the Premier League proved beyond both Shittu and the rest of the team and they were relegated comfortably before the end of the season. Shittu remained, and Watford initially looked a good bet to return, before falling away into more financial trouble.

Shittu spent an unhappy two years back in the Premier League at Bolton where he made just 11 appearances, but reignited his career with a spell under his former QPR coach Kenny Jackett at Millwall in 2010/11. His form there on a short term contract brought QPR calling again in January 2011, looking for extra bodies to solidify their own push for the Premier League.

Shittu’s form was fairly wild during his second spell at Loftus Road – excellent in wins against Ipswich at home, Middlesbrough away and Watford away, absolutely dreadful in away defeats at Scunthorpe and Millwall. Bizarrely, he finished the season playing as an auxiliary striker on the final day of the season as the R’s lifted the Championship trophy with a home game against Leeds.

Panic set in that summer when Tony Fernandes’ perspective takeover of the club dragged on into August, and existing owner Falvio Briatore refused to finance new signings knowing he was leaving the club. The signatures of Wayne Routledge and others were missed as a result and Warnock renewed contracts for players like Peter Ramage and Shittu while knowing they weren’t good enough for the top flight – in fact, Warnock had decided Shittu wasn’t for him after his catastrophic performance and red card in that return to Millwall the previous season. Takeover complete and 25 man squad named without him involved, Shittu found himself out in the cold for a year.

He returned to Millwall as captain, and took part in their run to an FA Cup semi-final, before retiring. A real character, and somebody who will always be remembered fondly at QPR.